


the glow of the fire will light up the night

by CassandraStarflower



Series: Cassiopeia Potter Throws A Wrench Into Things [3]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Albus Dumbledore Bashing, Evil Albus Dumbledore, Gen, Hermione Granger-centric, POC Hermione Granger, POV Hermione Granger, Present Tense, Pureblood Hermione Granger, Pyromaniac Hermione, bellatrix and rodolphus are her parents, hermione is a lestrange in this
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-02
Updated: 2020-09-02
Packaged: 2021-03-06 16:21:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 859
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26251816
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CassandraStarflower/pseuds/CassandraStarflower
Summary: Hermione Lestrange, through the years, with plenty of fire along the way.
Series: Cassiopeia Potter Throws A Wrench Into Things [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/915030
Comments: 5
Kudos: 47





	the glow of the fire will light up the night

**Author's Note:**

> Hermione’s a bit of a pyromaniac in this series. Also, this is an AU where the Lestranges didn’t torture the Longbottoms and therefore didn’t go to Azkaban. Crouch Jr. went ahead of them and got himself caught when he tortured Frank and Alice.   
> Title from Point of No Return by Starset.

Hermione is four years old when she first discovers the wonders of fire. 

Uncle Rabastan is in the sitting room, trying to entertain her. She is not amused by his transfigured birds or pretty lights, so he makes a bird out of a piece of parchment and lights it on fire. 

The flames dance and Hermione is transfixed. 

(Rabastan knows he will regret this the moment he sees the Black smile on his niece’s face.)

Hermione is six years old when she is stolen from her family by the old man with the beard and Memory Charmed, her memories of everything locked away in her mind. But the fire remains. 

She is given to Muggles who want a child, but they don’t want her. No one does. 

There’s something  _ wrong _ with her, Jane Granger mumbles to her husband as Hermione turns the pages of a book far too advanced for her. 

I don’t think she’s really what we had in mind, Andrew Granger says to the old man who brought her to them. The old man smiles and pulls out a wand. 

She’s not  _ theirs _ , one teacher says to another the moment she lays eyes on Hermione with her new foster mother. Hermione’s skin is darker than Jane’s, and her eyes are an eerie gray-blue. 

She’s  _ ugly _ , a girl says at school. Hermione looks away, running her fingers through thick, bushy, oddly dull hair. (It’s not your real hair, a voice in the back of her head whispers. Her fingers burn and a lock bleaches blonde.)

What are you?, a boy asks her. Hermione doesn’t understand. I’m human, she says, confused. She’s not a tiger or a giraffe, or a dog or cat. Doesn’t he know that? Don’t be stupid, he says. You’re not white. 

Hermione still doesn’t get it. 

(her mother is as pale as they come, but her father comes from a long line of pharaoh’s blood.)

(it shouldn’t matter.)

(somehow, it does.)

Hermione doesn’t understand why people don’t like her, so she sinks into the comfort of the things she does understand. Books, learning, fire. 

No one ever finds out what happens to the other girl’s backpack. It just burned up with no explanation. 

Hermione gives a small and secret smile while the girl screams. 

The boy’s precious football is found in his locker, melted rubber and burned plastic. 

Hermione lingers by her locker, breathing in the smell of fire, while the boy tries not to cry. He deserves it, anyway. 

Hermione is eight years old when she learns about  _ accelerants _ , from a detective who’s charmed by her precocious personality. 

She quickly starts testing them out. It’s oddly easy to get gasoline and matches. Sneaking into the park after dark is even easier. Covering the gazebo with gasoline and setting it on fire is the hardest part. 

She stands and watches the dancing flames, mouth open. The gazebo burns. The ceiling collapses, sending up sparks. 

Hermione watches until she hears sirens and runs to a hiding place. 

When the fire trucks try to put the fire out, she pouts. That’s not fun. 

The water sputters dry and Hermione’s temples throb. 

The fire burns on. 

Hermione is ten years old when she starts setting things on fire with her bare hands. This is unexpected, but not entirely unwelcome. Hermione doesn’t question many things, especially after she started levitating books. 

This development makes it even easier to burn things. One day, she hears an older boy boasting about his firework collection, which he’s unwisely keeping in his locker. She sets off for the locker in question and quickly unlocks the door. It’s another of the weird things she’s learned to do. 

The fireworks fill the bottom half of the locker, wrapped in plastic. Hermione starts unwrapping them, leaving plastic littered on the floor around her feet. The fireworks are then settled back in the bottom of the locker and Hermione steps back, her grin stretching her cheeks and hurting her face. 

One blink later and the fireworks start going off, filling the locker and hallway with brightly colored sparks and popping sounds. 

Teachers run out into the hallway, students start screaming, and Hermione smiles, temples throbbing. 

She and the boy are both hauled to the principal’s office, the boy sputtering and crying about how he wasn’t going to set them off in school! He just hadn’t had a chance to bring them home. His parents scowl at him. 

Hermione won’t stop smiling, and doesn’t offer excuses or explanations. Her parents, long terrified of her, don’t punish her. 

Hermione is eleven years old when she learns about magic for the second time. She immediately wants every book, wants to know everything. Professor McGonagall pegs her as a Ravenclaw. (she's not.)

Hermione is nearly twelve years old when she gets on the train to magic school, feeling magic all around her in a familiar embrace, and walks down the train with her trunk dragging behind her. 

She sees an oddly familiar pair of green eyes and opens a compartment door, looking at the green-eyed twins and redheaded boy inside, and says “Hello, my name’s Hermione Granger. May I sit here?”

**Author's Note:**

> Yes, she went to sit with the Potter twins and Ron. No, she is not entirely stable. Her mother’s Bellatrix Lestrange. She would never be entirely stable.   
> Hope you enjoyed!


End file.
